Kiev government, Right Sector play ‘good cop, bad cop’

Neil Clark is a journalist, writer, broadcaster and blogger. He has written for many newspapers and magazines in the UK and other countries including The Guardian, Morning Star, Daily and Sunday Express, Mail on Sunday, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, New Statesman, The Spectator, The Week, and The American Conservative. He is a regular pundit on RT and has also appeared on BBC TV and radio, Sky News, Press TV and the Voice of Russia. He is the co-founder of the Campaign For Public Ownership @PublicOwnership. His award winning blog can be found at www.neilclark66.blogspot.com. He tweets on politics and world affairs @NeilClark66

The Ukrainian government depends on the Right Sector and needs it to do things that the government would not like to be seen doing themselves, such as blockading petrol stations, UK journalist Neil Clark told RT.

Activists from the nationalist Right Sector party have barricaded
several Lukoil filling stations in western Ukraine, demanding
free gas from the Russian oil company, according to the OSCE.

RT:The petrol stations are being blocked,
which are a lifeline for many people. Why isn't anything being
done to stop this?

Neil Clark: It is very important to understand
what the relationship between the Ukrainian government and the
Right Sector is. The Ukrainian government would not have come to
power without the folks of the Right Sector, which is a far-right
paramilitary group, a neo-Nazi group, and they need them still
today, because they have not got control over the whole country.
And they particularly need the Right Sector to do things that the
Ukrainian government would not like to be seen doing themselves,
such as blockading petrol stations. So it is quite a good cop -
bad cop scenario, even though you could not say that the
Ukrainian authorities are good cops anyway. However, they need
the Right Sector to do things like this. The country is running
short of fuel, it is running short of many supplies, and
therefore it is better for the Ukrainian authorities if the Right
Sector is taking up this kind of activity, blockading petrol
stations, rather than themselves.

RT:And this radical Right Sector group is
also reportedly demanding that the oil company allocates up to 3
tonnes of oil monthly for the needs of the Ukrainian army. Does
that suggest it is representing the Defense Ministry?

NC: Absolutely, that's what it is all about. Of
course the Defense Ministry could not do it themselves, so they
need the Right Sector to do this. The country is running short of
fuel, and basically they are saying to the Russian oil company
"Give us your fuel, your oil." It is a war against the Russian
citizens in the east of Ukraine.

RT:Also, the gas stations being blocked
belong to a Russian company. Surely Ukraine's Right Sector can be
in no position to demand fuel from Russians, which it would class
as its enemy?

NC: It is almost laughable, because you get the
most fiercely anti-Russian forces in east Ukraine, the Right
Sector, absolutely ultra-nationalistic, fascist in their
attitudes towards Russia, demanding that a Russian oil company
gives them oil to help the Ukrainian army fight Russians. You
really could not make this story up, it is really absurd, but it
shows you the kind of desperate situation Ukraine is in. Of
course, the government does not want to control this kind of
people, it needs them. It came to power with the Right Sector and
it needs them today.

RT:Just how much control do the authorities
have over the Right Sector in Ukraine? Can the group do as it
pleases?

NC: If the government wanted to change the
course and decided to move against the Right Sector it would be
very dangerous for the government – the Right Sector have arms,
they are very thuggish, they are very powerful. But at least for
the next few months the Right Sector are essential to the
government in Kiev to maintain control of parts of the country,
and we are going to see more of this kind of thing,
unfortunately.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.